Tera's Blog

I don't do pork products. Anyone who has sat down with me for more than one meal knows this. Not sausage, not ribs, not pork chops and especially NOT HAM!! Not in 32 years have I liked ham (or coconut, but that's a different story) Even our office secretary knows this!!

So...wanna guess what Mom and Co. served for Christmas Dinner?? Yep, another &^%$ing HAM!! (which was also served, along with the Turkey, for Thanksgiving dinner) But this time with sides of macaroni salad and baked beans, which are my least favorite sides in the world, so I couldn't even have 'just the sides' for dinner. I wound up nuking a single serving of Stouffer's vegetable lasagna later in the evening. Yum.

I go home to visit maybe six times a year, tops. Of those six times, ham will be served for dinner for at least 2 or 3 of them. Complicating matters is the fact that my brother DOES like ham, and Mom seems to get the 'which child likes pork and which despises it' confused. Or at least, that's what she says..

Next year, I plan on having the 'rents up here for Christmas. And here's what I'm serving for dessert. Louisville Debuntante Frozen Fruit Salad

Merry Freakin' Christmas... Now eat your 'Frozen Thing'.

Thanks to Derek for sending me the link. I'll be sure to send home some leftovers for you with Mom and Dad. :)

Posted by at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I've been following a story in the news this week about a woman who murdered another woman in order to take the murder victim's unborn child. The baby girl was found at the murderer's home and was being passed off as her child.

I can't imagine what the murdered woman's husband and family are going through right now. You can read the details of the story at the linked articles. Needless to say it's very graphic and horrifying and you will be stunned by the pure evil a human being can inflict upon others.

What also caught my attention during the course of this story were two other related issues. First off, "a pregnant or recently pregnant woman is more likely to be a victim of homicide than to die of any other cause." . The article goes on to state that, suprisingly, very little research has been done in this area and there is corresponding lack of media attention. Though, the murder of Laci Peterson by her husband, Scott, is probably the most recently infamous example of this.

The second, and just as complex issue, has been the way the media seems to be struggling as to how to 'label' the crime committed and the resulting 'kidnapped baby'. The tag line for this story on Fox News is "An infant girl who was cut from her strangled mother's womb..." , yet the headline for the story is "Suspect in Stolen Fetus Case to Be Arraigned" . Well, which is it? Is it a stolen fetus or a kidnapped baby girl? Is it the same? What's the difference? If there is, what makes the difference? This sentence from the same article seems to be contradicting itself. "Montgomery, 36, confessed to strangling Bobbie Jo Stinnett, cutting out the fetus and taking the baby back to Kansas."

And I'm not picking on Fox News. You can read similar AP stories on CNN.com and MSNBC.com . The article at CNN also jumps back in forth in the sense that it uses the terms 'fetus', 'infant' and 'baby' interchangablely, but the MSNBC article only uses the terms 'baby' and 'child'. In the very least, it points out there is some confusion (?) over what term is appropriate and how/when it is applied.

Just to add fuel to the fire, it's also interesting to note that "Montgomery faces a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death". In this case the mother died, but the baby lived. Would the murderer have faced the same charges if the baby died and the mother lived?

Just something to think about. I'm curious as to what opinion other people come away with from this.

Posted by at 12:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

"It's not the holidays until you ruin someone's diet. Enjoy!"
- I wrote this on the gift tag attached to a box of candy given to a co-worker

Posted by at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On the left, are Diane (former roomie and fellow blogger - fyzixphrog.com)and Scott. On the right, are two characters from Half-Life 2.

Uh...Where did you guys say you went on your honeymoon?

Posted by at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)